The president of the US bishops’ conference has called the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage ruling “a tragic error” and urged Catholics to move forward with faith “in the unchanging truth about marriage being between one man and one woman”.

Regardless of what a narrow majority of the Supreme Court may declare at this moment in history, the nature of the human person and marriage remains unchanged and unchangeable, said Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky.

“It is profoundly immoral and unjust for the government to declare that two people of the same sex can constitute a marriage,” he said.

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court said same-sex marriage is constitutional nationwide.

“Just as Roe v Wade did not settle the question of abortion over 40 years ago,” when it legalised abortion in the US virtually on demand, Obergefell v Hodges “does not settle the question of marriage today,” Archbishop Kurtz said.

“Neither decision is rooted in the truth, and as a result, both will eventually fail,” he added.